Ohio patrol to train drivers to see signs of crime

GROVE CITY, Ohio (AP) -- The State Highway Patrol is renewing efforts to train truckers and other drivers to spot signs of crime and monitor for safety threats during their everyday travels.

In late May, troopers kicked off the new "Truck Shield" program to educate commercial truck drivers about identifying and reporting indicators of impaired driving, human trafficking, homeland security concerns and other illegal activity, all in an effort to reduce crashes and crime. By late summer, the patrol hopes to provide similar information for residents visiting various patrol posts.

The training builds on what truckers have done for decades, tipping law enforcement to signs of trouble. Troopers want drivers to be more alert to obvious problems, such as a car weaving between lanes or someone using illegal drugs at a rest stop, and to more subtle hints, such as a young girl who's traveling with a much older man and won't make eye contact with other travelers.

The effort dovetails with the patrol's new hotline from crime tips, (hash)677, and ongoing efforts in the state Legislature to step up human trafficking awareness and enforcement.

Col. John Born, the patrol superintendent, asked the group of Wal-Mart truck drivers at the training kickoff the same question he asks his troopers: What will you do today to make Ohio safer?

"You've got a lot more eyes and ears out here than we do, so if we can multiply what we do with your eyes and ears, we're pretty confident -- not only the success we've had in drug trafficking but in human trafficking -- we can make Ohio, maybe even the Midwest, so unattractive to these people that they'll go someplace else," Born said. "Obviously we want to catch them, and we want to arrest them, and we want to put them in prison. But we also want to create the deterrence."

Truck drivers attending the training said they'd heard some of the information before but found new tips or more confidence about reporting potential problems.

"We see that stuff all day long, it's just sometimes you just end up overlooking it," said Jason Imhoff of Ashland, who's worked for Wal-Mart for more than half of his 16-year career. He noted that drivers in tractors sit higher off the road than troopers in cars, giving them a different perspective into other drivers' vehicles.

Imhoff, 34, said he's seen people using drugs at rest areas and texting while driving. He said he once reported an apparently impaired driver who was later pulled over, and the training makes him feel more comfortable about making such calls, despite his fear he'll end up reporting something that's not a big deal.

"When you see that stuff up on the screen up there, it's like 'Oh, that's obvious,'" he said. "But if you're in that position, you know, it's a little more like, 'Wow, is that really something I need to report?' So they make you feel a little more relaxed about calling."

President Larry Davis of the Ohio Trucking Association said a similar, federally funded program called "Highway Watch" lost funding and ended several years ago, and the new state effort helps fill the gap in training. The patrol is using money seized in drug investigations to pay for the promotion materials for the program.

Drivers have asked for such training in the absence of "Highway Watch," said Jim Murphy, a Wal-Mart fleet safety manager, who hopes to have the 200-plus Wal-Mart drivers in Ohio trained with tips from the new program by fall.

One of them, 56-year-old Paul King, said he thinks all of his colleagues would be interested in improving highway safety.

"That's my office space," the longtime driver said. "I want it to be as safe as possible."